My mom's parents usually came supplied with a tureen of corn or green beans and a pumpkin pie, though if we were lucky enough to had found decent cooking apples this early in the season we would also have apple squares or a pie of our own as well (bonus for me, since I detest pumpkin pie!), not to mention a chocolate cake for my pie-hating sister.

On the table the image is by Chardin, “Still Life with a Bottle of Olives,” made from candle light, the black beyond and a wooden table on which is a composition of glowing soup tureen, pears and pomegranate, two glasses and traces of wine, a loaf of bread face down on a cutting board and the present giving way to the past.